Luke Rockhold jumps into the top 5 at #4 with his win over Chris Weidman. Weidman had recently reached #2 on our pound-for-pound list behind Jon Jones but he drops to #5; with #6 Rafael dos Anjos and #8 Donald Cerrone fighting on the #19, Weidman will be pushed down to #6 to accommodate the winner of that bout.

More change is in store over the next few months as #1 Jon Jones fights #7 Daniel Cormier in early January, and #3 Fabricio Werdum rematches #10 Cain Velasquez in February. Still inactive and possibly retired is Georges St. Pierre, who moves back up to #2 with Weidman's loss. Werdum can move up to #2 with a win, and Cormier can take over the #1 spot if he can beat Jones in that rematch.

Weight Class Rankings: Changes at the top of Middleweight and Featherweight

Dec 1Rank

Dec 13Rank

Fighter

WC

Rating

Rated Record

Dec 10-12 Results

3

1

Luke Rockhold

MW

74.65

12-1-0

Beat #1 Chris Weidman

1

2

Chris Weidman

MW

64.20

9-1-0

Lost to #3 Luke Rockhold

4

3

Yoel Romero

MW

44.41

7-0-0

Beat #2 Ronaldo Souza

5

4

Anderson Silva

MW

29.62

30-6-0

last rated win -38 months.

2

5

Ronaldo Souza

MW

29.47

17-3-0

Lost to #4 Yoel Romero

Our Middleweight rankings matched #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4; in both cases, the lower-ranked fighter won. Luke Rockhold moves up to #1 and Yoel Romero to #3, with Weidman falling a spot to #2 and Souza falling to #5. With #4 Anderson Silva suspended and out of action for a while, Souza will move up to #4 by February's rankings.

The question here is whether Weidman gets an immediate rematch or whether Romero gets a shot at Rockhold. Considering Weidman was undefeated prior to his loss and Romero's win over Souza was not convincing—and the fact that Dana White loves rematches—we guess we will see Rockhold-Weidman II next.

Dec 1Rank

Dec 13Rank

Fighter

WC

Rating

Rated Record

Dec 10-12 Results

3

1

Conor McGregor

FW

48.02

7-0-0

Beat #1 Jose Aldo

1

2

Jose Aldo

FW

38.62

17-2-0

Lost to #3 Conor McGregor

2

3

Frankie Edgar

FW

32.38

14-4-1

Beat #11 Chad Mendes

4

4

Daniel Straus

FW

27.58

11-3-0

5

5

Max Holloway

FW

26.39

12-3-0

Beat #28 Jeremy Stephens

Now the featherweights, where we also had the #3 (Conor McGregor) beating the #1 (Jose Aldo). And like the Middleweights, the #1 falls to #2. However, Frankie Edgar, who can't catch a break, actually drops from #2 to #3 despite beating Chad Mendes in a more convincing fashion than either Aldo or McGregor managed.

This puts Edgar in a bind. If there's an Aldo-McGregor rematch, he waits. If McGregor next faces the winner of the Rafael Dos-Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone lightweight title bout, Edgar waits. And in that case, does McGregor ever come back to Featherweight like he says he will? Who knows. Does Edgar then face Aldo in the meantime? Or #5 Max Holloway, who beat Jeremy Stephens? Or does he just wait and hope he gets a title shot of some kind soon?

It sounds like Dana White is hoping for a battle of champions. He's basically trashed Jose Aldo before, so don't count on any mandatory rematch. And he's said if McGregor moves up to Lightweight he will get a title shot immediately. Looks like Edgar may be left waiting again, but McGregor can't claim he's "cleaned out the division" until he beats Edgar, and before you try to become a 2-division champ there shouldn't be any options left in your first division.